12-24-23 Phoenix Suns Media Availability: Frank Vogel, Devin Booker, and Eric Gordon

12-24-23 Phoenix Suns Media Availability: Frank Vogel, Devin Booker, and Eric Gordon

Get a health update on your guys uh Josh Bradley uh Josh is uh listed as probable we expect him to play uh Eric Gordon as well with this is probably expecting to play Bradley is out uh nerk is still out uh with the personal and uh Damen Lee

Obviously how as well um Eric probable is it just is it the same thing yeah it’s just hip it’s a it’s a hip issue I mean with Eric it’s his hip too yeah um both of those guys probably how big will it be to get Josh back in

Particular because of what he does we missed him we missed joshu Ki and uh you know all the effort and energy that he brings the defensive disposition Prim primary matchups uh obviously we got to figure out how to how to guard Luka and Kyrie uh tomorrow so um having in back

Will be a welcome side looking at um BR was he what has he been able to do as a BL yeah he did a little bit more than light shooting today did some of the the non contact part of practice today moved around a little bit more still hobbled

Uh but getting closer oh you guys looking to you know he wants to get back but you guys looking to stick to the the schedule of reevaluating him in January I as soon as he gets he gets healthier sooner then he’ll be back sooner um but the expectation is is probably going to be till January last 11 games or so you guys are botom in terms of attempts efficiency what do you nice yeah we’ve been we’ve

Been talking about it you know shooting 25 threes in the modern NBA you know it’s not enough Firepower to come back what we’re facing on the other side of the ball so I like that we’re we’re getting to the pain of free throw line uh but we have to shoot more threes what

Did you like about the look out there the other night is in terms of a rim presence yeah he’s just a big strong athletic dude you know what I mean and uh and you feel it you know with his his finishes around the basket uh his physicality on the boards and and back

Hanging with the other the other bigs um you know so he he gave us a big lift and uh you know we’ll see what he can do tomorrow with the Christmas game what does that mean to be able to play on Christmas and maybe have the late night

Game so you get to enjoy a little bit of your holidays with the family first yeah it’s always an honor you know to to play uh in the NBA on Christmas day you know it’s it’s part of uh you know part of America you know is uh waking up opening

The presentence having friends and family around and uh and having the NBA games on I can remember as far back as as being a a young child you know remember getting a a brand new TV when we were little and I remember watching Michael Jordan play

The Knicks and uh on on our new TV like it was just really cool and uh so for to be able to participate in it is uh very special to me thank I don’t know how much you hear from like family friends people around the NBA but would there be a difference

You hear more winning streak during a stretch when you’ve lost 8 11 uh probably hear more from people when you’re winning yeah people leave you alone when you’re losing you know but it’s part of the you nature of the NBA and obviously you you go through those stretches but how do

You manage it yourself try not to get try not to get too high and too low one seven straight you know I I I wasn’t feeling like Hey we’re on a way to the championship and you know when we’ve we’ve struggled of late you know I I

Don’t feel like thisg falling you know what I mean there are correctable things there are uh you know many moves we can make throughout the course of an NBA season uh you know with uh how we’re playing who we’re playing what guys are out when they’re coming back and um you

Know you have to have a you know a sense of urgency you know but uh and even kill mindset you know through wins and losses coach obviously out for a first Reas important give him whatever he needs get to be able to come back and

His due time how big is that for team yeah it’s just uh it’s a human element you know what I mean you have to uh you have to treat people the right way and um you know when you have something like this you know you just want to be be

There for them and support them and you know make them understand that basketball is secondary to life and um you know just uh be supportive you know we do expect him back soon and um you know but you know in some situations basketball is definitely secondary curious with with defending Luca um

Everyone tries to find the equation but he still finds a way to get it what’s the biggest thing you got to take away from him in your guard well I’m not going to tell the Mavs what we’re trying to take away from them tomorrow um but just try you just got to

Try to break his rhythm you know as much as you can you know and make things as difficult for him as you can as as you would with any great player but I mean he’s is uh he’s as special as they come you know with his ability to beat his

Own man you know read pick and roll coverages uh read double teams um his his size and uh Vision with his passing ability is extremely unique and his shot making is extremely unique you know so um and he does it all at his own pace right he doesn’t it’s very

Difficult to speed up um you know one of the best one of the best in the world when you go through a stretch where you have a couple of games that you have just really ERS obviously this just wins and losses how do you think the guys are responding to adversity especially since

It’s a lot of guys that aren’t yeah responding well I I feel like we’re staying together you know we’re we’re pointing out things that are you know that need to be done at a higher level uh we’re pushing each other okay like Bol said last week um trying to hold

Each other accountable um we’re working together you know for Solutions and um you know it’s uh it’s healthy you know so I feel good about where where we’re at this despite uh some of the losses okay there’s been part to many losses of late uh but I feel good about where the

Spirit of our group is you know to to open up looks for him and you know put him in a position to do what he does um you know nobody takes what he said person around here he he’s been in this for a long time and you

Know he you know he he’s earned that respect um and he has the talent to you know do what he’s saying I’m curious when there’s certain guys certain situations where the ball swung to them and they’re open and they don’t take the shot how much does that affect the

Offense when okay the shots there it’s open take that as opposed them trying to to do something else with it uh yeah I mean I think the you know his game has turned to that in the past five years um you know it’s bad offense if you

Don’t take the shot cuz you usually get a a worse look you know after you pass open a open look um yeah no I wasn’t speaking just I wasn’t speaking about him I’m just speaking in general in the offense in general when guys pass up looks how much

Do that yeah you have to be a threat out there um you know there’s very few guys that you know are able to capitalize with you know people laying off them and letting them shoot and find ways to you know maybe go dribble hand off with another teammate and get them a better

Shot so um there’s ways but you know everybody on this team we we want them shooting open shots you’ve been through a lot tougher stretches than this what’s the key especially with a new group of guys to kind of pushing through and handling this type of adversity right

Now um just stick together um you know that’s all you can do you know still still learn through it um learn through the wins learn through the losses like I’ve been saying and um you know I think we’re doing a good job of that you know picking little things up each game um

Now just putting it all together over this 11 game stretch you guys are near the bottom in terms of three-point attempts what do you do you attribute that to kind of what Dwayne was talking about or is there more to it than not being able to generate the same number

Of Threes you guys were maybe earlier in the season um yeah we have to look at it it’s obviously something that we’re talking about you know we have too many too many good Shooters you know in this gym and too many guys that you know cause problems at The Rim that are lob

Threats that should open up thre so you know it’s definitely something that we’re looking into F you guys have played becoming kind of a routine to play on Christmas day um what is playing on that day like uh I mean it’s a it’s a dream you know it’s definitely a

Nostalgia moment you know thinking back of growing up when you know right after you open your present just turning on the TV and you get get Hoops all day you know that’s the last present of the day and you know this year we the last game

So we still get our morning um with our families and and time to lock it in by by night time just speaking of that um what games did you remember watching as a kid on Christmas that that still stick with you right now um I used to love the jerseys the the

Christmas Jerseys I always say they should still go back to that and um say most memal probably Lakers heat is that coob off the yeah yeah maybe the first first one when coob did the game winner on D way was that on Christmas the bank top

Of the key glass I I don’t I don’t know was it I’m not sure yeah we have to look in yeah got go look I like the jerseys when you’re looking at Dallas in particular with with B LCA what makes him the challenge that he that that he

Is on on the offensive L um I mean he does everything you know there’s no weakness offensively um you know if he’s scoring in bunches you know he’s also getting his teammates involved at the same time and you know they’ve created a great system where you

Know when you try to put two on the ball and take away take away you know his scoring ability he he gets the other guys involved and get gets him open shots and easy looks so you know it’s that balance of you know trying to you

Know limit it all um and it’s a tough job to do I don’t know if you saw that ESPN clip when he was talking about your game and he was a big fan of your game so I was just curious when you go against a guy like that in the playoffs

And you have this sort of not rivalry but with a guy like that what do you think about him and his I think that’s just another um moment you know that proves you know what social media is about and you know how people try to stir drama and you know look for

Anything clickbait um you know me and Luca’s respect for each other has been mutual and at a high level since he came into the league so you know obviously a playoff series um get super competitive you know as every game does um but the world just takes it and runs with it and

That’s fine it’s good good for the game um good for traction good for views but you know there there’s no problem amongst each other we just compete at the highest level look along the same lines when there’s a national conversation and people are talking about the Suns in a

Rut right now do you start hearing from more people do people send you clips of people talking about the Suns uh no not really people know I don’t really pay attention to that so they just keep me out of they get frustrated for a minute all my family members and friends

Come to me like I don’t know how you cuz I feel I want to tweet so I want to say something um but you know I’ve been in it a long time and you know it’s entertainment fa of late because it just seems like it can get a little clogged

Up yeah I mean we just got to take what the defense gives me you know what that gives us you know if there’s an opportunity when someone’s open open you got to give it to them whether they’re a good shooter or not uh we we just got to uh sacrifice

And play with one another a little bit more and uh I think that’ll give us good energy you know to do a little bit better offensively defensively when people know that they’re open they can get the ball and defensively you know having that trust to really help each

Other and uh it’s really a trust thing when you look at the last 11 games you guys have been the bottom of the league in three-point attempts and percentage what do what do you like attribute that to yeah we know it’s a little bit of lack lack of movement and only way you

Can generate those threes is playing faster and and really playing downhill we playing downhill focusing on the rim and you know it’s easy to make the right play for someone else and uh I think when we get back to doing that I mean like I always say I mean it’s guys for

This grouping cuz uh we definitely just need everybody to at their best and uh and uh you know you got have a mentality where it could be anybody’s given night to do that you’ve been on a lot of different teams through a lot of different highs and lows what’s the key

To staying together during this type of stretch where you know it’s a bunch of new guys especially yeah it’s all about understanding you know everybody’s talents and tendencies and uh you know offensively like I said we we can be as good as we want to be offensively and uh

And but it has to be helped by our defense cuz those defensely when you get a when you get a stop you have to you have to generate a good shot and it’s easier to generate good uh shots when you’re playing really good defense so we

Got to be as good as we uh we definitely got to be better both what thoughts ER on just playing on Christmas how much does that mean to you and everything yeah it means a lot um well for one for me it’s good personally CU you know it’s my birthday and for two

You know that’s always a a day where you’re going to watch basketball you know all the Premier teams are playing and uh you know a lot of good players that people love to see so uh of course that’s a big day for everybody for basketball Eric from the

Outside it’s easy for people to get concerned and worried about what’s going I’m sure you hear some of the noise what’s it like to be inside of is it easy to not get like that is it hard to not get wrapped up in it no you know

It’s you know it’s just basketball it’s you know um It’s just tough with the type of team we have to be and to you know to have some of these meltdowns and lapses and uh and we’ve had it for a long period of time like I’ve told

People it’s funny how we it’s weird that we went from a seven game winning streak where we look like we were trending in the right direction into now not doing the things that we were supposed to and uh so of course there’s always ups and downs in the leag

In the season but the pro I mean you just don’t want to have too many let Downs so you look at good in the last game what you feel like they only get two shots I mean we just weren’t dictating flow and Pace you know uh as

You say Sacramento they just they played their game they played fast they they cut they they they just played their game and for us we just to me we just didn’t do that and uh you know we got to have that where every time we come down

The floor the team other team needs to be pretty much scared of us and they got to I mean we got to just we got to get back to destroying teams and uh but we’ll we’ll get there only thing I had was um when you play on your birthday OB

Chm extra extra thing for you to be playing on your on your birthday when it’s a holiday or or do you even view it that uh you know to me that’s more of a relaxed day so it is weird it is weird weird you know playing on Christmas but

Uh all the good games are on Christmas and uh it’s always good to be a part of how important are these next you guys have seven home games in the next eight games how important is it to just kind of maximize that you guys put a lot of

Value into that oh it’s very important you know as you know playing at home is very you got to win games at home that’s very important and uh we need to do that and we know that we got a lot of tough games coming up and um but we know

What’s ahead and is but we really need to focus on us that’s that’s that’s really what we need to focus on ER about to beat a dead horse but with Friday as a score it’s like fourth quarter are you like looking around like man how do I only have two

Shots well you know things happen and um you know um you can never just be frustrated over one game you know uh cuz I always look at things as as a team as a whole you know you’re losing and you’re not doing doing the things that

And personally you’re not able to do the things that you want to do so that’s when it really gets frustrating when you’re losing and you’re also individually not getting to doing get a chance to do the things that you want to do so uh so that’s that’s just been the complicated part go

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